270 AFRICA SPEAKS 



over, or to hit a tree as you went dodging in and out 

 among them, just missing some by inches, or you might 

 plunge into a deep donga, with serious consequences. 

 But to secure pictures of girajffe that would be of any 

 interest to spectators, we had to take these chances. 



Immediately after starting we struck a hole which 

 threw the camera into the air and myself and the boys 

 to the floor of the truck. Nothing was seriously hurt, 

 so putting things together we went after them again. 

 This time we raced over a large plain and, as the truck 

 went speeding along at thirty-five miles an hour, often 

 hit small holes which shook things up, and once we 

 nearly capsized. Mike had barely dodged a large 

 boulder, turning so suddenly that we ran along on two 

 wheels for a few yards, when I saw directly ahead of 

 us a big wide ditch. I yeUed at Mike just in time for 

 him to stop at the edge of the chasm. If we had 

 tmnbled into this, the expedition would have come 

 to a sudden and untimely end. CircHng the donga, 

 we tried again, this time getting into position for a 

 fairly good view as the giraffe raced by, but after 

 grinding out seventy feet of film, I discovered that the 

 iris on the lens had jarred down to a pinhole, which 

 meant we had nothing to show for the morning's work, 

 excepting a few bruises and some underexposed film. 



On account of our recent accident which had put 

 the other truck out of commission, we were almost 

 nervous wrecks after this day's effort, and I would 

 much rather have been back in a boma photograph- 

 ing lions. 



Next morning we made another early start in search 

 of giraffe, this time going into a district where we 

 had seen many of the animals in the past. After a 



